Mission Impossible
by MarauderMcGonagall
Summary: James has got a plan that he proudly calls Mission Get Lily To Fall For Him or as Remus, Sirius and Peter call it, Mission Impossible...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: JKR all the way…only the plot is mine! **

"Hey Evans will you –"

"No Potter!"

"Sheesh Evans, can't you just pass me that quill on the floor next to you?" James whispered, smirking.

Lily blushed.

"Oh – er – here then Potter…" she said quietly, keeping her eyes on Professor Flitwick.

Grinning, James took the quill from her, making sure that his hand brushed against Lily's. Lily wrenched her hand backwards and glared at James.

"Do you mind, Potter?" she snapped. "Do you use every possible advantage to touch me?"

James held in his laughter as Flitwick looked around the room and Lily suddenly realised how wrong what she had just said sounded. Blushing furiously once more, she lowered her eyes to her parchment and resumed her note-taking, trying her hardest to ignore the whispering from the four boys next to her.

"Evans! Psst…Evans! Will you go out with me?"

Lily gritted her teeth and she could distinctly hear Sirius and Peter laughing whilst Remus was busy whispering something angrily to James. Lily knew she could count on Remus. Black, Pettigrew and the arrogant prick, Potter on the other hand…

Ignoring him and sharing an exasperated look with her best friends, Alice Corner and Marlene McKinnon, she shook her head very slightly, hoping that Potter could get that hint through his inflated head.

She glanced over at the boys and saw Sirius take a small notebook out of his robe pocket and make a tally mark. The blood rushed up to her face once more.

"Black, are you keeping track of how many times I turn down _your_ sorry excuse for a friend?" she hissed angrily.

Even Alice and Marlene looked interested to see how Sirius would handle this enraged Lily.

"How do you get her to talk to you Padfoot?" James asked eagerly.

"It's my skill with the ladies," Sirius smirked. "Not that I'd go for Evans though!" he added quickly, noticing the suspicious look on James' face.

Lily heard everything.

"Can you stop talking about me as though I'm not even here? Besides, Black, I wouldn't go for you in a million years so get over yourself!" she said as quietly as she could, without attracting the attention of Professor Flitwick.

Sirius only grinned. "I didn't hear you say anything about ol' Jamesie here…Does that mean you'll go out with him?" he asked shrewdly.

Lily's face went the same colour as her hair for about the third time that lesson.

"I just didn't want to say his name, okay?" she said quickly.

Alice and Marlene exchanged a 'look'.

"Black actually brought up quite a good point there," Alice whispered to Marlene.

"Ooooh…we'll have to ask her about it later!" Marlene said excitedly.

Giggling, the two girls turned back to the conversation.

James' face went from excited to disappointed straightaway. Lily rolled her eyes. She saw that look on his face every time he asked her out and she turned him down, which was at least once a day.

But then she saw Remus looking at her strangely. She gave him a 'look' that clearly said 'what?' He shook his head slightly, but continued to look at her shrewdly. James did not fail to miss this. He whispered something into Remus' ear, so Lily couldn't hear. Remus was quiet for a moment and then he whispered something back to James, who broke into the biggest smile Lily had ever seen on his face. (Even bigger than that time when he had unknowingly stuck a note on the back of Lily's back that said in big, bold letters, _James Potter is MY man!_)

The moment was spoilt as Sirius practically leapt onto Remus' desk to know what the secret was. Peter too, was looking warily at James, who looked as though he were about to float into the air. (Or perhaps that was just because Lily was on the edge of hexing him with the Wingardium Leviosa spell)

The four boys started whispering amongst each other once again. Giving up, Lily turned back towards her notes, deeply confused by Remus' actions. He was usually the sensible one. But it wasn't long before she felt tugging on her robes. She looked around and saw Marlene pointing towards the boys table and trying not to laugh Alice herself was already giggling as quietly as she could, though it seemed to be taking up all of her will power not to burst out laughing and bring Professor Flitwick towards them. He was currently busily writing something on the blackboard.

Dreading what she was about to see, Lily turned around to face the boys…and gasped. James had somehow, in the space of a few minutes, conjured up a huge signboard and pasted all over it, were pictures of her and him and they seemed to be _holding hands_ and even, in some pictures – Lily nearly fainted – _kissing_.

James and Sirius were smirking but Peter looked scared at the look on Lily's face and Remus was looking at James with an annoyed look on his face, as though James had done something wrong…

"_Well of course he did something bloody wrong!"_ Lily thought to herself. _"He's got freaking pictures of me and him KISSING! How the hell did he do that?" _

Fuming, Lily made a grab for the board, but James moved it out of the way and Lily snatched at the air, lost her balance and felt flat on the floor…

Everyone swivelled around in their seats and stared at her wide-eyed.

"_Just when I thought this bad lesson couldn't get worse…" _she thought to herself, her face giving of enough heat to fill up the whole room.

Professor Flitwick finally noticed the commotion at the back and began walking towards them. Lily meanwhile, was still sitting on the floor, rubbing her knee that had knocked the desk. James stretched out his hand, but ignoring him she instead took Alice's offered hand.

"What the hell did you do that for, Potter?" she almost yelled, noticing that the board of pictures had disappeared instantly.

"What! You were the one who missed and fell over!" he said feebly, knowing he was in for another yelling from Lily.

Professor Flitwick cleared his throat and glanced between the two feuding students.

"Miss Evans and Mr Potter! I would appreciate it if you left your fighting out of this class and concentrated on the work at hand." he said in his squeaky voice.

The end-of-class bell rang and Professor Flitwick sighed.

"Class dismissed."

Taking full advantage of the fact that the lesson had ended, Lily started yelling at James once more.

"Where did you get those pictures from?" she demanded, whilst walking out of the classroom.

"That's for me to know, Evans, but if you want those pictures to come true then I'm all yours…" he said casually.

"SHUT UP POTTER!" Lily shouted. "When will you just take the hint and leave me alone?"

"Never, Lils, never. Because I know we are meant to be."

Letting out a frustrated sound, Lily grabbed hold of Marlene and Alice and dragged them away.

In a last ditch attempt, James yelled, "So you _really _don't want to go on the next Hogsmeade trip with me?"

Swearing obscenities that the four boys could hear from the other end of the hallway, Lily turned around the corner and was lost from view.

"She digs me," James said matter-of-factly.

Even Sirius looked at James weirdly.

"Prongs," Remus said. "She might've liked you a _tiny _bit before, as I told you in the classroom, but I think you blew it…again."

James looked dispirited, but then he perked up.

"Lightning has just struck my brain!" he said happily.

"That must've hurt," Peter said.

"Come on. Let's go. We've got to find Peeves."

"Peeves?" Sirius said incredulously, whilst following James down the hallway.

"What? Why?" Remus asked, fearing for James' sanity.

"If what you told me was true, Moony, about Lily maybe liking me, then we'll need that _Special, Emergency, Once-in-a-lifetime, Only to be used in dire situations Potion_ we kept with Peeves all those years back." James said in one breath.

"What? Prongs, have you gone crazy! We can't use the _Special, Emergency, Once-in-a-lifetime, Only to be used in dire situations Potion_! I mean, it's only for – for special, emergency, once-in-a-lifetime situations!" Sirius said desperately.

"And isn't this one?" James said excitedly. "I mean if my precious Lily flower is actually falling for me then who knows what will happen? I HAVE to know!"

"Ok, ok, Prongs!" Sirius laughed. Even Remus and Peter grinned at James' obvious excitement. They skidded across the hallway, spotting Peeves bobbing along one of the corridors, whilst dropping paint balls on some first years.

"Peeves! Come here! We need something from you!" James called.

Peeves came floating towards them at once. He was always willing to help any student that caused havoc within the school wall and the Marauders had found that Peeves could be a very good person to have on their side (when it came to pranks that is). The first years scuttled away, relieved.

The four boys and one ghost gathered around in a group in the middle of the hallway.

"Peeves, do you still have _the_ potion we gave you all those years back?" James asked quietly.

"I has it right here," Peeves said, drawing a small bottle out of his brightly coloured jacket.

"Wow. You've been carrying that around since all those years back?" Remus asked interestedly.

"Wicked!" Sirius said.

Peeves looked proud of himself and all four boys grinned at him.

"Okay, so here's the plan…" James said and leant forward into the group a bit more.

A few minutes later all four boys and one poltergeist were grinning wickedly.

"So, got it?" James asked.

"Yes," four replies came.

But then –

"What are you four doing with Peeves?" came the stern voice of Professor McGonagall.

All four boys nearly jumped out of their skin and Peeves would have too…if he had any skin.

"We didn't do it!" James and Sirius said together.

"I never even accused you of doing anything…yet," Professor McGonagall said, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly.

"Oh," James said after a pause.

"Well I guess we'll just go now then, Professor. We don't want to waste anymore of your valuable time." Remus said suddenly and all four boys started walking away towards the Great Hall and Peeves floated away.

Professor McGonagall stared after them, trying to shake the image of their grinning faces from her mind. They were up to something again…only time would tell what.

_A/N: I hope you enjoyed that! The next chapter may be a while because of that annoying thing called school…bleagh. So please leave a review if you liked it! James/Lily all the way!_


	2. Chapter 2 Potion Mishaps

**Disclaimer: My name's not J.K.Rowling, so how can I own all these wonderful characters and places? **

"What's this about you and Potter, Lily?" Alice asked casually.

Lily nearly choked on her own saliva.

"What do you mean _me and Potter_?"

"I think you know what we mean, Lils." Marlene answered.

"Don't call me that," Lily said automatically. "It reminds me of Potter!"

Alice and Marlene raised their eyebrows as Lily blushed, realising what she had just said.

"Potter on the brain! Potter on the brain!" Alice chanted.

Marlene burst into laughter and Lily frowned.

"I do not think about Potter all the time, Alice!" she interrupted, smiling at her best friend's singing.

"He's actually not staring at you for once Lily!" Marlene exclaimed, staring down the table to where James and his friends were sitting, discussing something earnestly.

"What!" Alice said, craning her neck to see. "This is some kind of miracle!"

"Shut up Alice!" Lily said loudly. "Well maybe he finally got the hint!"

_Why are my eyes trying to look at Potter to see whether Marlene is telling the truth and why is my brain resisting? _Lily thought to herself.

Giving in, Lily glanced over to James and saw that he actually (for once in his life) was not staring at her, open-mouthed like he usually did. She knew she should be feeling grateful, but for some reason, she wasn't. Struggling with herself, Lily suddenly whispered, "What's wrong with me?"

Marlene and Alice glanced at each other before looking back at Lily. This wasn't what either of them had been expecting.

"Lily?" Alice asked gently.

"I get annoyed when he stares at me and then when he finally doesn't I feel like – like I don't know! I just feel something!"

Marlene and Alice smiled.

"I think Lily, that you are finally having feelings for a certain Potter…" Marlene said.

Lily looked up, her eyes quite bright.

"Lily, come on. He has been good this year hasn't he? He doesn't go around hexing people anymore right? As for the pranks, well…what's school without a few pranks anyway?" Alice said quietly, smiling.

Lily giggled softly. "I guess you're right guys. Thanks. But the actual idea of me actually falling for THE James Potter kind of creeps me out!"

"Don't worry Lils. It creeps us out too!" Alice and Marlene said together.

Lily swatted both of them and all three girls started laughing.

"When's Peeves going to do it again?" Sirius asked.

The four boys were sitting at the Gryffindor table, waiting for the food to appear.

"He should be in the kitchens right now. I wonder how those house-elves are managing him." James answered.

"Probably causing all the mayhem he can," Remus said, grinning.

"So the plan is for him to put the potion in the pumpkin juice and…?" Peter said confusedly.

James sighed.

"Peter, we were just discussing it before McGonagall interrupted us! Weren't you listening?"

"Yeah, but if he puts the potion in the pumpkin juice won't the whole of Gryffindor table be able to drink it? I mean, not _only _Lily drinks the pumpkin juice!"

James, Sirius and Remus stared at him, open-mouthed.

"We've raised him well," Sirius said finally, failing to grasp the enormity of the situation.

"Sirius, don't you get it!" Remus said frantically. "When the food appears, the WHOLE of Gryffindor will be able to drink some of the potion through the pumpkin juice!"

James was looking half amused, half annoyed.

"Why didn't we think of that? I mean, after all those pranks we've done and we go and mess this up! It must have been because McGonagall interrupted…Do you think she suspects us?"

"Of course she doesn't! Why would she suspect innocent, rule-abiding students like us?" Sirius smirked.

James laughed.

"We have to stop Peeves!" Remus said loudly.

"How? We can't just storm into the kitchens and make sure the house-elves don't send up any pumpkin juice…" Sirius trailed off.

"There they go again, Albus." Professor McGonagall said to Dumbledore. "They haven't eaten yet and they're leaving the Great Hall! Have you ever seen Potter, Black, Lupin or even Pettigrew miss a meal before?"

"I wouldn't know, Minerva," Dumbledore answered, his eyes twinkling. "I don't studytheir eating habits during lunch."

Minerva blushed.

"I don't _study _them. I just watch them to make sure they don't make any trouble during meals and I think after watching them like the many times I have, you're sure to pick up _some_ things! They're up to something, Albus! I can tell. I haven't been their Head of House for the past six years for nothing!"

"If you insist, my dear," Dumbledore said, smiling slightly.

Minerva snorted and looked back at the four boys who were running out of the Great Hall as fast as they could.

Meanwhile, Peeves was doing his end of the bargain…

"Goody goody house-elves let Peevsie do something with the pumpkin juice!"

"No," squeaked one house-elf. "You is wanting to do bad things!"

"I shan't do bad things! You can trusting me." Peeves said innocently.

"We is never trusting you!" said another house-elf, shaking his small head.

Peeves frowned a ghostly frown.

"Alrighty then, Peeves will be bad!" he said, suddenly knocking over a table of pots and pans.

The house-elves wailed and half of them started to clean up the mess straight away.

"You is being very naughty!" trilled a house-elf with abnormally large ears.

Peeves opened a few taps and knocked down cups and plates. More house-elves started shouting.

Taking advantage of their distraction, Peeves floated along leisurely towards the table laden with food for the Gryffindor students and tipped some of the potion from the small bottle into the pumpkin juice. Then he looked around. The house-elves were still running around blindly, trying to clean up all of the mess. None of them were paying any attention to Peeves anymore.

A thought suddenly came into Peeves' head. It wasn't what the boys had told him to do, but it was just more fun this way. He grinned wickedly and floated around the other House tables and poured the remainder of the potion into the other three jugs of pumpkin and just for good measure the jug of pumpkin juice that would go to the teacher's table.

Grinning wickedly, he floated back over the heads of the house-elves and blew a huge raspberry. All the house-elves looked up at him, annoyance all over their small faces.

"_You_ is making us get into trouble! _I_ is making sure the food will go up before you is doing anything to it!" one house-elf said in a shrill voice.

Peeves grinned. It was all going to his plan. He watched the house-elf send up the food and then started choking on his laughter. The house-elves stared at him warily.

"I can't believe we didn't think of this before!" Remus moaned, running with the other three boys towards the kitchens.

"Lighten up Moony. It will probably be funny to watch everyone –" Sirius started.

"No it won't!"

"I bet they haven't even sent up the food yet, so stop arguing you two!" James said loudly.

All four of them burst into the kitchen and looked around.

Peeves was laughing loudly up in the air and all the house-elves were staring at him.

"Don't send up the food!" Sirius yelled.

The house-elves swivelled around and glanced weirdly at Sirius, who flushed.

"It has already been sended up," the house-elf with the large ears said.

"What! No!" Remus cried.

"Yes!" the house-elves said.

"No!" Sirius shouted.

"Yes!"

"No!" Sirius shouted again.

"PADFOOT! Stop it!" James yelled. "Peeves, why the hell are you laughing like that?"

"Because I put the potion in all the juices!" Peeves cackled.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter stood still, hardly breathing.

Finally Remus spoke. "All the juices? _All the tables? _Even the teachers' table?"

"Yes!" Peeves choked out.

All four boys stared at each other, lost for words. Then Sirius said, "No…"

"SIRIUS!" Remus and James shouted.

_A/N: Hey again guys! I decided to be a nice person and update sooner than I expected before school starts! It helped that I suddenly had what I call a 'writing phase' where I just can't do anything but write. LOL. Also, I tried to get the accent of Peeves and the house-elves right, but I'm not very sure about it. sigh So, I hope you liked it. Don't worry. You'll find out what the potion is in the next chapter! I won't keep you hanging for that long! Please leave a review!_


	3. Chapter 3 Pumpkin Juice WHAT!

**Disclaimer: I am JKR…in my dreams…sigh**

_Sirius stared at the Great Hall. _

"_Hey Sirius! Tried the pumpkin juice yet?"  
_

"_Wow! Today's pumpkin juice hits the spot!"  
_

"_Sirius, have you ever tried better pumpkin juice?"_

"_Mm-mm! Mr Black, have you had any pumpkin juice?"  
_

_Sirius stared. _

"_Professor Flitwick!" he asked incredulously. _

_All the students started jumping on their tables and singing the 'Pumpkin Juice Song' whilst the teachers issued confetti from their wands. Dumbledore stood up at the High Table and said, "I proclaim this day 'School Pumpkin Juice Day' and all classes are cancelled… _

"Sirius! Sirius! Snap out of it! Why are you staring out into space and grinning like that?" James said impatiently.

"Oh – er – what's happening?" Sirius said dazedly.

Remus sighed. "We were just discussing what we were going to do now that Peeves has messed up!"

"Well I think that since the potion will last for the rest of the day and there's still the rest of the afternoon and evening to go, we'll have to let it just take place because we don't know any bloody antidote…" James said, trailing off as he saw Sirius staring into space again. "Sirius, what did I just say?"

"Um…this is a wild guess – James raised his eyebrows – but I think you said 'Well I think that since the potion will last for the rest of the day and there's still the rest of the afternoon and evening to go, we'll have to let it just take place because we don't know any bloody antidote'."

James, Remus and Peter stared at Sirius.

"Fine," Remus muttered. "You were listening."

Sirius grinned.

"I vote we go to the Great Hall and see what's going on," Remus said.

"But what if…you know…" Peter said.

"Then we'll just have to see, Peter. I mean, they can't possibly suspect us of anything bad. Not hard working students like us anyway." James said.

"Yeah," Sirius said vehemently.

"Let's go," Remus said wearily, too annoyed to argue over study habits right now.

They walked over to the Great Hall and opened the door cautiously. Nearly everyone they could see was drinking the pumpkin juice. It didn't help that the day was an extremely hot summer one.

His recklessness taking a hold of him, Sirius jumped into the middle of the Hall and before James and Remus could stop him he yelled, "DON'T DRINK THE PUMPKIN JUICE!"

All the students swivelled around and stared at him, wide eyed, most of them swallowing their pumpkin juice in shock. Over at the High Table, Professor McGonagall immediately spat out her mouthful of pumpkin juice, (much to Dumbledore's amusement) all too aware of what the Marauders were capable of.

"Sirius!" Remus hissed.

"Oh…um sorry then," Sirius mumbled, flushing.

He ran out of the Hall to where the other three boys were still standing.

"What did you do that for?" James asked half angrily, half amusedly.

"Now they'll know it was us!" Remus whispered.

"I don't know what happened to me!" Sirius said. "They all weren't acting weirdly anyway."

"It takes a few minutes," James answered.

"Should we check again then?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, but someone put a leash on Sirius or something this time," Remus muttered, grinning.

"Hey!"

"Come on!" James said.

The boys looked into the Great Hall. The whole place was engulfed in purple smoke.

The boys cringed.

"Who knew that there were that many liars at Hogwarts?" Sirius exclaimed.

Remus and Peter glared at him. James, on the other hand, was staring at Lily, who was looking around fearfully.

"Come on," he said. "They know it's us. We should go in."

The four boys walked in, after pulling Peter back through the grand doors after he tried to run away.

They sidled up slowly to the Gryffindor table and sat down across from Lily, trying to ignore all the purple mist that was swirling around them.

"Potter!" Lily said immediately. "What did you do to make all this purple smoke appear? It just keeps appearing from people's ears whenever they say things!"

"What purple smoke?" James said innocently, squinting hard through the haze to see his beloved.

Remus inwardly groaned.

Lily glared at James and pointed her wand at him.

"Oh, you mean _that _purple smoke," James added hurriedly, knowing all about Lily's aptitude for charms.

"I swear I'll hex you Potter!" she hissed.

Purple smoke immediately issued from both of her ears in copious amounts. Marlene and Alice stared at her, fascinated but James and Sirius, unable to take the sight of Lily with bright purple smoke pouring out of her ears, burst out laughing.

Lily started swearing once more.

"Potter! What the hell did you do?"

James tried to answer but he found he had no air left in his lungs after all that laughing.

"Well we –"

He started laughing again.

"Sorry, we –" he glanced up at the purple smoke again and burst into laughter.

"Potter, you annoying, stupid –"

"Everyone stay calm," Dumbledore's voice echoed through the hall. No one could see him through the dense smoke. "We all know who has done this I assure you that they just meant it as a harmless prank – there came the sound of someone kicking Dumbledore underneath the High Table – but they will be punished, since even the teachers have been affected. Will James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew explain what they did please?"

Dumbledore finally raised his wand and cleared away the smoke with one wave. People all over the Hall kept their mouths firmly shut in case the smoke was triggered again. Everyone glared at the Marauders, including the Professors.

"Hi everyone…" James faltered as no one seemed pleased enough to greet him back. "Um…well we made a potion and by a series of unfortunate and unforeseeable events that had nothing absolutely to do with us, the potion somehow ended up in the pumpkin juice."

James took a deep breath, hoping that Dumbledore would buy his story, but then Professor McGonagall spoke.

"This has to do with what you were discussing with Peeves hasn't it?" she said loudly.

_Damn, _James thought to himself. He had forgotten that Professor McGonagall had seen them with Peeves.

"Er – of course not Professor!" Sirius said quickly. "Whatever made you think such a terrible thought?"

Professor McGonagall frowned, but Dumbledore interjected.

"I think that we would like to know what this potion does boys." he said.

The four boys glanced at each other. They didn't want to give away their masterpiece, but they couldn't find any way out of it. Not with all the teachers and students watching anyway. Think of the waste if Sirius dropped a dung bomb right when everyone was watching! Absolutely no planning or thought going into it at all!

"Um…if you tell a lie then the smoke will appear from your ears and if you tell the truth then the smoke will disappear if there was smoke in the first place." Remus said bluntly.

The tension around the students seemed to tauten at those words. How could they spend the whole day just telling the truth? The horror!

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily.

"And how long will it last?" he asked.

"For the rest of the day, Professor," James and Remus said together.

"Ah, well in that case, I suggest as since there is no antidote, the rest of the day will have to go along as smoothly as can be. There will be no cancelled lessons. Carry on."

Dumbledore sat down and started conversing with Professor McGonagall who was frowning in between her many gulps of water. She seemed to be trying to wash out the pumpkin juice she had drunk as were the rest of the teachers.

James looked around, noticing that Sirius had been quiet for quite a while. That in itself was a reason to worry.

"Hey, Prongs, try some of the pumpkin juice. It's great!"

James' mouth dropped open and he stared at the half full goblet of pumpkin juice in Sirius' hand for a whole minute.

"Please tell me you didn't, Sirius. Please!"

"Do what?"

"Drink the pumpkin juice,"

"Oh this stuff, yeah I tried some. Pretty good too."

"SIRIUS! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!"

_A/N: Like it? Hate it? Please don't forget to review. I've decided, because I love you all so much, that I will respond to all your wonderful reviews. Thank you so much. I couldn't have gotten this far (I know, I'm only on the third chapter! Ha-ha!) without all your supportive reviews. Ok, I have to go before I start getting WAY too melodramatic…hehe. Don't forget to leave a review:D _


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Wait..let me check. pause Nope...still not JKR. sigh**

"Sirius, I can't believe you drank it! I mean, weren't you listening to _anything _that was going on!" Remus said disbelievingly, as they walked towards their next Transfiguration class.

All four boys were trying their hardest to ignore the glares they were getting from all the students that walked past.

"I was thirsty, ok! I just took the cup closest to me! You know how –"

"Impulsive you are?" James interjected, smirking. "Yeah, we know Sirius."

"Well you'll just have to suffer with everyone else, then." Remus said, even though now he was grinning.

The idea of Sirius drinking the potion seemed to have hit all the Marauders hard and now James, Remus and Peter were all laughing loudly. Sirius was grumbling to himself.

"Some friends I have…"

James choked whilst trying to stop himself from laughing.

"Come on Sirius – ha ha – you have to – ha ha ha – see the funny side. I mean after all that – that planning and then you go and drink the potion yourself…" James dissolved into laughter again.

Sirius punched James lightly on the arm, whilst Remus chuckled in the background.

"Oh yeah?" Sirius quipped. "Well I guess I'll just have to hang out with Evans, Corner and McKinnon now that you guys don't appreciate me. I have to say truthfully that I prefer them to you anyway!"

Purple smoke suddenly issued from both of his ears. James, Remus and Peter burst out laughing. Sirius looked confused.

"Where's that smoke coming from?"

"You really don't want to hang out with us anymore Sirius. Truthfully?" Remus choked out.

A look of dawning comprehension suddenly spread over Sirius' face. James found himself having to lean on Remus for support from all the laughing.

"Damn! Forgot about that!" Sirius almost shouted. "Oh, shut up! Fine! I'd rather be around you guys, okay?"

The purple smoke disappeared from his ears immediately and Sirius glared at the other three boys, who were rolling on the floor.

"Ok, ok…" Remus managed to gasp out. "We'll stop, Sirius."

"Hmph! Let's just get to McGonagall's class before she blows her top like the last time when we came in halfway through the lesson. Sheesh! I could practically hear her cat self snarling!" Sirius said grouchily.

The four boys walked into Professor McGonagall's classroom to find all the other students already seated. Immediately everyone in the room, especially Professor McGonagall and Lily started glaring at the Marauders.

"Play a small prank and everyone gets so annoyed…Where's their sense of humour these days…" James mumbled to the other three boys.

They took their seats at the back of the class.

"Right," Professor McGonagall said. "You will all please continue with the work from last lesson's class. Just carry on with the practice of human transfiguration: Transfiguring each other's eyebrows in pairs."

James and Sirius paired up and so did Remus and Peter. Lily, Marlene and Alice formed a threesome with Professor McGonagall's permission.

James lazily flicked his wand whilst muttering a few words and Sirius' eyebrows instantly turned blue.

"Good work, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall said as she passed.

After a few more tries each, James and Sirius were bored. Remus had also managed to transfigure Peter's eyebrows and was now waiting patiently for Peter to master the spell.

"I'm bored," Sirius whispered.

"Yeah, me too," James replied. "You think we should have some fun with the potion? I mean, we didn't make it for nothing!"

Sirius broke into an evil grin.

"Well Evans and company are sitting near us. Think we should start with them? Unless you want to start with McGonagall?"

James shuddered, imagining the number of detentions they would get if they provoked McGonagall.

"I think we should work our way upwards," he said quietly.

Both of them nodded.

"Evans," James hissed. "Evans, like my new look?"

Lily glanced over at James' bright green eyebrows and without thinking said, "It's a much better improvement than before, if that's what you mean, Potter."

James looked slightly disappointed but that was short lived as purple smoke suddenly streamed from both of her ears. James raised his green eyebrows at Lily and then looked at Sirius, before bursting out laughing.

"So Lily, really? You find me hot?" he said in between his gasps of laughter.

"It's Evans to you, you twit and I don't have to answer any of your questions! Fine, it's not an improvement! – The purple smoke dissolved away – Now bugger off!" Lily said angrily, knowing and cursing the fact that she was blushing.

"You didn't answer my question _darling_…" James whispered quietly in a sing-song voice.

"Oh shut up! Since when have I _ever_ answered any of your questions anyway? Now go away and stop calling me darling!"

Marlene and Alice glanced at each other, both of them remembering the conversation they had earlier in the Great Hall with Lily. James was definitely not making a good case for himself.

"But, Evans, we were made for each other! The purple smoke explains it all! The secret to our future life!"

"_The purple smoke holds the secret to our future life? _Have you finally lost it!" Lily said, the volume of her voice rising with every syllable.

"I thought you thought that I lost it a long time ago!" James said brightly. Then he paused, thinking about what he had just said. "Wait…that came out wrong."

Remus and Sirius hid their laughter.

"You smooth talker you, Prongs!" Sirius quipped.

Remus and Peter burst out laughing. James just looked embarrassed.

"I _did _think you had lost it long before, Potter," Lily said sarcastically.

But, unfortunately for her –

"AHRG! POTTER, GET THIS PURPLE SMOKE AWAY FROM ME! WHAT THE HELL POSSESSED YOU TO PUT THAT DAMN POTION IN EVERYONE'S PUMPKIN JUICE ANYWAY!"

Professor McGonagall finally came over to see what all the noise was about.

"Miss Evans! What is the meaning of this?"

Lily looked up at McGonagall, purple smoke still pouring from her ears. Her face was really quite red. Sirius was having silent convulsions of laughter behind his chair. The sight of a purple-smoking eared, red-faced Lily was too much for him. James on the other hand, was staring intently at Lily to see what she would tell Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry Professor. I was just telling Potter to bugge – I mean I was giving him a piece of my mind because of that potion he used to spike the pumpkin juice with." Lily said quickly. "Fine, just to be rid of the smoke I'll say I don't think you've lost it." she added.

For the second time that lesson, the purple smoke disintegrated away from Lily's ears.

Professor McGonagall stared at Lily for a moment, before glancing at James and Sirius and saying, "I can imagine, Miss Evans,"

James and Sirius looked offended.

"Oh come on, Professor," James wheedled.

"You know you love us," Sirius finished.

"I most certainly do _not_," Professor McGonagall answered automatically, not even considering the effects of what was about to happen.

A millisecond of time past before –

"POTTER! BLACK! LUPIN! PETTIGREW! I don't care what Professor Dumbledore says! You will be serving detention with me for the rest of the year!" she stormed, purple smoke pouring from both of her ears from her previous comment.

"So you do love us!" James said happily.

"Awww…we knew you had it in you, Professor!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Congratulations, Professor! That makes us feel so much better!" Remus chimed.

Lily cringed. _How could they find the nerve to talk to their Head of House that way?_

Professor McGonagall muttered something under her breath that sounded remarkably like curse words.

Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Wow, Minnie, I didn't know you had _that _in you as well!" he commented in an impressed voice.

"Black! How many times have I told you not to call me that!" she snapped.

"Sorry Professor, it's so fitting!"

"How am I supposed to stop the smoke from coming?" she asked, suddenly noticing that students around the room were pointing at her ears. She glared at them and they hurriedly looked down.

James grinned widely.

"You have to tell the truth about the lie you said just now, Professor!' he said joyfully.

Professor McGonagall twitched.

"That's the only way to stop it?"

"That's the only way to stop it!"

"I do like you all then," she said quickly.

The purple smoke kept on coming.

"You have to say the _complete _truth, Minnie dear!" Sirius exclaimed.

Professor McGonagall glared at him.

"Sorry! I mean, you have to say the complete truth, _Professor_!" he corrected.

Professor McGonagall took a deep breath before saying all at once, "I do love you all,"

The purple smoke disappeared and the whole class burst into applause.

Slightly red-cheeked, the corners of her mouth twitched before she said, "Don't think you've escaped detention, you four!" she said.

The Marauders exchanged glances before all four of them broke into huge smiles.

"We're used to it by now, Minn – Professor. Don't worry, we won't forget!"

"Carry on with your work! I've never seen such a bunch! Potter, come with me to outline your detentions then you can tell Black, Lupin and Pettigrew. There's no point for all of you to come up."

James followed Professor McGonagall to the front of the class.

A few moments of peace and silence took place before Sirius suddenly had one of the best ideas he had ever had in his life (and that was saying something). He slid his chair over to Lily's table and said, "Evans, why won't you give James a chance?"

Lily's head snapped up so quickly Sirius could have sworn he heard her neck crack.

"That is hardly any of your business, Black!" she snapped quietly.

"Actually it is Evans, because James happens to be one of _my _best friends and you hurt his feelings every single day."

"Potter doesn't have feelings!" Lily whispered suddenly.

Purple smoke started spilling out of her ears. Cursing, Lily muttered something under her breath and the smoke disappeared.

Sirius immediately saw what he had to say.

"Evans, you know when I said you hurt James' feelings, there was no smoke coming from my ears. But when you spoke, there was. I think it's time you came to see the truth and not just from any purple smoke."

Lily, Marlene and Alice looked stunned as Sirius moved back to his own table. _Since when had Sirius been so profound?_

"The worst thing was…he was actually telling the truth!" Lily murmured to herself. "

Alice and Marlene exchanged another glance at the look on Lily's face.

The end of class bell rang and smiling slightly, Professor McGonagall dismissed the class. Lily, Alice and Marlene were the first to leave the classroom.

"Wait, Evans!" James yelled. "I have to ask you something!"

"Well, you know what, Potter?" Lily yelled back. "You just can't! Leave me alone!"

James slowed down, noticing that her eyes looked slightly brighter than usual. Then he ran up to her anyway.

"James, leave her alone for a while," Alice pleaded.

"I have to ask you something Lily," he said.

"Why? Just so you can see that damn purple smoke come from my ears again? Get a life and get lost!" she yelled.

"Are you scared to answer me?" James asked quietly, suddenly looking serious.

Lily faltered.

"No I'm not! I – I just want you to leave me alone for awhile." Lily took a deep breath. "Pl – Please? Just leave me alone for awhile?"

James stood still. This was the first time Lily had ever said 'please' to him in a remotely calm voice.

"Alright then," he said and started walking back towards the Marauders, not even noticing the grateful looks that Marlene and Alice gave him. He was deep in thought about Lily's bright wet eyes…

_A/N: Ok, so i kind of got the feeling that this wasn't one of my better chapters but i still hope that you enjoyed it! Don't forget to leave a review! You're all darlings:D_


	5. Chapter 5 It All Started With A Potion

**Disclaimer: If my name was J.K. Rowling, it wouldn't be spelt E – V – I – E.**

_A/N: Well, this is the last chapter of this short story. I want to thank everybody for reviewing and I couldn't have done it without you all. And also, this chapter is more romance and less humour. Just a note. :)_

"I can't believe he used that stupid potion to try and get me to say something to him!" Lily yelled in rage through her tears. "He's such an egotistical prat!"

Up in their dormitory, Marlene and Alice exchanged worried glances over the top of Lily's head.

"Come on Lily," Alice said gently. "You don't know that Potter only spiked the pumpkin juice to get at you. He may have had another reason for doing it."

"And what would that be, huh?" Lily stormed. "I can't believe he had the nerve to even try and trick me like that!"

"I don't think tricking you was the first thing he had in his mind –"

"He tried to manipulate me,"

"Lily –"

"He wanted to watch me suffer in the humiliation of the fact that –"

"What fact are you talking abo –?"

"I can't believe he tried to _force_ it out of me!"

"Um…Lily? You might be over-reacting just a little bit. I'm sure he didn't mean for you to get hurt. If anything, I think he just wanted to know the truth." Marlene finally managed put in.

"The truth? That's what started all of this in the first place. Why can't he just be happy the way he is? Why does he always have to disturb me? Annoy me? Practically harass me?"

"Lily, stop it. He does not _harass_ you." Marlene said firmly.

"Annoy? Yes. Disturb? Yes. But I'm sure he doesn't want to harass you, Lily. Can't you see how dramatic you're being?" Alice added.

"Me? I haven't got a dramatic bone in my body!" Lily defended.

Alice and Marlene smiled as Lily wiped her eyes ferociously.

"At least we know that potion has worn off. Look, there's no purple smoke coming from your ears and you just told a lie." Alice said excitedly.

Lily wasn't listening.

"He just wanted everyone to know that I might actually have some feelings for –"

Lily stopped in the middle of her sentence, glancing quickly at Alice and Marlene.

Alice smiled softly. "So Lily, you still have feelings for a certain Mr Potter? Even after all your ranting, raving and complaining?"

"So, there is a part of you that knows that Potter didn't do this just to humiliate you, isn't there? It's alright Lily, you can tell us." Marlene added, staring at Lily's eyes.

"What are you two going on about? If anything, Potter has just ruined any tiny amount of a piece of freaking chance that he had with me and that's all there is to it." Lily said quickly and loudly.

"Don't kid yourself, Lily. We know what really goes on in that complex brain of yours." Marlene said.

"No, you don't!"

"Yes, we do!"

"Can't we at least handle this is in a more mature way?" the ever practical Alice asked.

Lily and Marlene blushed.

"Lily, you can't go on denying it forever. Potter's done worse things than this before and –"

"Yeah, like that time he put that charm on you in our second year so that every time you opened your mouth, roses poured out!" Marlene put in enthusiastically.

"Marlene –" Alice started, watching the blush creep up Lily's neck and face.

"Yeah, and that time he put the spell on your Head Girl badge so that it said James Potter's Girl –"

"Marlene!" Alice tried again.

"And who can forget that time he managed to get this first-year to follow you around everywhere and say 'James Potter likes you', every time you tried to say something."

"Marlene! Shut up!" Alice shouted.

"Oh – er – sorry, Lils." Marlene mumbled.

"As I was saying," Alice said, glaring at Marlene. "Why is it this time you are so affected by what Potter did, when he has done much worse things, as Marlene so _helpfully_ reminded us? Is it because this time you were afraid he might actually find something out?"

"Maybe…" Lily said evasively. "You know, both of you have just been so wonderful, but I think I'm going to go for a walk outside, okay? I just need to think for awhile."

Alice and Marlene nodded, and watched Lily walk out of the dormitory in silence.

"She was practically crying!"

Remus sighed.

"You've only told us that about ten times now, Prongs."

'Yeah, but I mean _crying_, crying. Not just like whining or yelling. _Crying_. You know what I mean? Cryi –"

"Yes Prongs! Crying! We get it!" Sirius said loudly. Sirius' voice echoed over the Lake. All four boys were lounging around on the grass in front of the rippling water.

"No, you couldn't get it if you didn't see it!"

"Yeah? Well you've described it enough for me to actually see it happening in front of me so –"

"Can the two of you shut up," Remus said wearily. "None of this is going to help Prongs and Lily."

Sirius retaliated. "Don't be stupid, Moony. Prongs and I fighting could solve all the problems."

"And how exactly?" Remus asked, his eyebrows rising.

"Well, Prongs and I will fight and then Lily will come over to see what's going on and then she'll save Prongs, because I obviously will be winning and then they'll live happily ever after and ride away into the sunset on Prong's new Nimbus 1900."

Ringing silence followed this statement.

"That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever –" Remus started.

"Actually, Moony," James said slowly. "I liked the sound of that. All of it could come true, except the fact that Padfoot would beat me in a fight."

Sirius punched James lightly on the arm as Remus rolled his eyes.

"So what are you going to do, Prongs?" Peter asked, from his spot on the grass.

"I dunno. I think I blew it for real this time. She actually started cry –" James hurriedly stopped at the look on Remus' face.

"Why don't you go and apologise?" Peter asked.

"Wormtail, how dare you suggest that? You know you can't just go up to a girl and apologise without getting a slap: Especially if it's Lily. You have to plan it out, take the necessary precautions and arm yourself against a blast of pepper-spray they may have up their sleeves."

All four boys winced; remembering what had happened to James last year, when he tried to ask Lily out for might have been the thousandth time.

James rubbed his eyes instinctively. "Anyway, I'm definitely not making that mistake again."

Sirius let out a bark-sounding laugh from the edge of the water.

"Oh shut up, Padfoot."

"But I have to do _something_!" James said helplessly.

"Well…you could just go and talk to her," Remus offered.

Sirius yelped. "What are you trying to do to him, Moony? Send him to his death? You know what Evans is like when she's in a temper. He probably won't come away from it in one piece!"

"Don't be over-dramatic, Padfoot. She's not like that. She's a gentle, beautiful flower…"James said, gazing into the distance.

Sirius snorted.

"Yeah, and I guess that's why you've been slapped by her a million times: _Because she's gentle._"

"Yeah, that's why," James said, in his own fantasy, where he and Lily grew up, got married and had a child called Harry.

Sirius snorted once more and this time Remus joined him.

Lily walked around the enormous castle, trying to clear her mind. It wasn't working. The few words Sirius had told her in Transfiguration kept coming back to her mind…

"_Evans, you know when I said you hurt James' feelings, there was no smoke coming from my ears. But when you spoke, there was. I think it's time you came to see the truth and not just from any purple smoke."_

Lily sighed. Why did Sirius have to become so deep anyway? He was the least deep person she knew (apart from Potter, of course) and here he was, making her think over his words. What was this world coming to?

But what if she didn't want to see the truth? What if the truth hurt her? What if James hurt her…? Lily shuddered, even though the air was warm and crisp.

She'd have to talk to him. At least that purple smoke had worn off by now. The only question was where was he?

James stared into the depths of the clear, blue water and sighed. He had really blown it now. But he hadn't meant to. Why couldn't Lily see that? He looked around at his three friends. Remus was leaning against a tree and reading a book, Sirius was lying on his back and staring up at the sky and Peter was lolling about at the edge of the water.

"You know, I was just wondering, why couldn't life just be as peaceful as it is now?" James suddenly asked.

Remus looked up from behind his book.

"Come on, Prongs. You know you like the mayhem and madness."

"Yeah, you're right. But sometimes you know…" James trailed off, staring over the emerald lawns. He had spotted a flash of red hair and it was heading straight for the huge oak tree a few meters away from the Marauder's.

"Guys," James whispered. "Guys, there's Lily!"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sirius said from the grass.

James paled.

"But what if she wants to be alone? What if she hates me? What if she starts getting into another temper?"

"I think you should talk to her. She's hated you so long, she probably can't hate you anymore and she looks too sad to get into another temper." Sirius said.

"Does that answer your questions then?" Remus asked.

James nodded mutely and dragged himself of the grass and walked over to the tree Lily sat under.

Lily sat under the tree and gazed out across the lake. The sun was setting behind it and casting an orange glow across it. It was so peaceful, so calm…

"Um…hey Evans,"

Lily almost jumped into the branches of the tree above her. She turned around quickly.

"Potter," she acknowledged. "You shouldn't sneak up behind people like that."

"Er – sorry…But I was wondering whether I could talk to you."

"You've never asked for my permission to talk to me before, Potter," she said staring out at the Forest. "And you can sit down you know."

James sat down awkwardly on the grass next to her. Lily noticed that for once in his life, he maintained a respectful distance. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"You know, Evans," James finally said. "I didn't mean to hurt – Lily flinched at the choice of his word – you with that potion."

"Then what did you want to do, Potter?" she asked quietly. "Humiliate me? Annoy me? Like you've always done before?"

It might have been the glow of the sunset, but Lily could have sworn she saw James blush.

"I didn't want to do that though. I just wanted you to…" James trailed off, not knowing how to say what he thought.

"Yes?" Lily asked, finally looking away from the lake and towards James.

"Well – er – I just wanted you to…um…I just wanted you to know that – that there's a leaf in your hair." he sighed.

Lily felt her stomach tumble unpleasantly. James reached out and pulled a leaf gently from her hair before handing it to her. Their hands brushed against each other and Lily immediately looked down, fingering the leaf, marvelling at its extraordinary shape.

"Actually…Lily,"

Lily looked up again expectantly.

"What I meant to say was – was that I just wanted you to notice me…" James blurted out the last part quickly, before he could lose his nerve again.

Lily looked straight into his eyes.

"But I already noticed you," she said softly.

"Yeah, but you noticed me in a _bad_ way," James said in an even quieter tone.

Lily let out a quiet, tinkling laugh that made James' spirits lift very slightly. She looked even more beautiful when she laughed.

"Well, what did you expect? All those things you've done to me!"

"Well, I didn't mean them to be bad. I just wanted them to be different from the usual…"

Lily stared at his face. His brown eyes were sparkling in the dim light and the last rays of sun seemed to put a beautiful dancing fire in them. Lily felt herself drawn to them. She couldn't look away.

"And why did you want to be different, James?" she whispered.

"Well – because Lily – because I think…no I mean, I _know_ that I do and have and will always…love you."

_There! I said it! Now it doesn't matter what happens. At least I told her. _James thought to himself.

Lily almost stopped breathing.

"You love me?" she said so softly James could hardly hear her.

James took a deep breath.

"Yes, Lily. For the longest time and I just wanted you to know that I never meant to hurt you and I never will."

Lily was quiet for a whole minute. James sighed after getting no response and stood up to leave.

"No! Wait, James!" she called and she pulled him back down.

It was her turn to take a deep breath.

"Somehow…I think under all the pretence, I love you too, James Harold Potter. I've just been too wrapped up in delusions to admit it."

James face lit up. Lily had never seen him look so happy. His face was even brighter than the dying sunset behind him.

James managed to choke out a word, "Really?"

Lily smiled. "Really."

James jumped up and punched the air in triumph. Laughing, Lily pulled him down beside her on the grass again. They stared into each other's eyes, unable to comprehend the feelings they were both having within themselves.

"So…can I kiss you now?" James finally asked.

Lily giggled and nodded but before James could say or do anything, she leant forward and kissed him.

"Awwwww…Alice! She kissed him! It's so sweet! Quick, come and see!" Marlene babbled excitedly from the dormitory window that overlooked the grounds.

Alice came to the window and smiled at the scene before turning away.

"Where are you going? It's too sweet to look away from."

Alice giggled. "Yes, Marlene, but it's rude to _spy_,"

Marlene finally came away from the window and lay down on her bed.

"You know what I think, Alice?"

"Hmm…what?"

"I think our work here is done."

Both girls started laughing.

"Moony! Moony! Come over here!" Sirius whispered.

"What happened? Lily didn't curse him again did she?" Remus said, getting up from the tree and walking over to where Sirius was looking through some bushes.

"No…they're _kissing_ and Lily was the one who kissed him first!"

"_What_? " Remus said staring through the bushes.

He smiled and turned towards Sirius.

"Well I knew Prongs could do it and besides, I was the one who told him to go and talk to Lily."

Sirius let out his usual bark-like laugh.

"Yeah, well I inspired him with my story about how he and Lily would fly away together!"

"Well then, I guess we're both responsible for this. Oh yeah, and I guess Prongs gets some credit too."

Both boys paused for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Lily pulled away from James, slightly out of breath. James had a faraway look in his eyes.

"You know what, Potter?" Lily said smiling. "I guess you're not so bad after all."

And to think it all started with a potion and a plan called, Mission Impossible…

_A/N: Well that's the end of my first ever complete James/Lily story! I hope you all liked it! Please leave a review if you did. They always make my day:D :D_


End file.
